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Tomatoes are quite a whimsical, thermophilic crop, but despite this, they are grown by many domestic gardeners. In an effort to get a good harvest of vegetables, farmers begin to work in early spring, preparing planting material for growing seedlings. Unprepared seeds in this case can cause non-germination of plants, poor yield and low quality of fruits, which is why experienced vegetable growers advise selection and deep, thorough processing of tomatoes before planting seedlings. It can include thermal exposure, disinfection, bubbling, as well as saturation of seeds with nutrients.
Seed selection
Before processing, soaking and germinating tomato grains, they should be carefully selected, removing empty and ugly specimens. The primary selection of tomato seeds is visual inspection. So, you should remove hollow, too small and large grains of tomato. The shape of a high quality seed should be even, symmetrical. This visual calibration allows you to select the best seeds that will yield a good, high-quality vegetable yield.
In addition to visual inspection, experienced farmers use brine to select full-bodied seeds. To do this, dissolve 1 teaspoon of salt in half a liter of water. It is necessary to immerse tomato seeds in the resulting liquid and mix them thoroughly. After 15-20 minutes, low-grade, hollow tomato grains should remain on the surface of the water, and those suitable for sowing should sink to the bottom of the container. They must then be thoroughly rinsed and dried for later use.
Heat treatment methods
Having passed the visual selection, full-bodied seeds of a leveled shape can be used for further processing and sowing for seedlings. So, heat treatment of tomato grains can be primary. It includes hardening and heating. These measures require time and effort from the farmer, however, subsequently, they will allow to obtain a high-quality, rich harvest of tomatoes.
Warming up
Warming up tomato grains improves the quality and quantity of seedlings. The warmed-up seeds germinate quickly, evenly and provide a guaranteed rich harvest of vegetables. You can warm them up long before sowing. For example, during the heating season, when the batteries are hot, the seeds can be wrapped in a cotton bag and hung near a heat source. This heating is recommended for 1.5-2 months.
You can quickly warm up the planting material using the oven. To do this, the seeds should be spread out on parchment paper, and then placed on a baking sheet in preheated to 600With oven. Seeds in such conditions must be kept for 3 hours. This will increase the resistance of the crop to drought.
Hardening
Hardening tomato seeds is not an obligatory procedure and is rather advisory in nature, but it is worth remembering that it is hardening that allows young and already adult plants to adapt in the future to sharp fluctuations in night and day temperatures, as well as heat and frost.
You can harden tomato seeds as follows: place the grains in a damp cloth and keep at room temperature for 2 days, after which the bundle with tomato grains should be put in the refrigerator for 6-8 hours.Such a contrast to the seeds should be created for 10-15 days, until they hatch.
The use of thermal methods for processing grains does not require a lot of effort, time and money from the farmer, however, it gives a quite noticeable positive result in the process of growing a crop, which is why many experienced and novice gardeners resort to hardening and heating seeds.
Disinfection of seeds
Regardless of whether tomato seeds were purchased or harvested independently, harmful microbes and spores of a pathogenic fungus may exist on their surface. They can cause a variety of plant diseases and negatively affect the growth, fruiting volume of tomatoes and the quality of vegetables. Early wilting and death of tomatoes in some cases can also be the result of the influence of parasites, the larvae of which were located on the surface of the tomato seed even before the seeds were sown in the ground. It is possible to remove larvae and bacteria that are not visible to the eye by processing the planting material. The most common methods for disinfecting tomato grains are given below.
Use of potassium permanganate
Solution potassium permanganate most often used for disinfection of tomato grains before sowing for seedlings. The method consists in preparing a manganese 1% solution (1 mg per 1 liter of water). In the prepared light pink liquid, it is necessary to place the tomato grains for 15 minutes. After soaking, the seed must be thoroughly rinsed with water and soaked for further germination or dried for short storage.
Hydrogen peroxide
Unlike potassium permanganate, hydrogen peroxide not only disinfects tomato seeds, but also accelerates the process of their germination. It is worth noting that experienced housewives recommend various ways to use this substance. So, just before sowing, tomato seeds can be soaked for 20 minutes in a 3% hydrogen peroxide solution. Such a measure does not take much time and does not cause much trouble.
Hydrogen peroxide can be used for long-term soaking, germination. So, a substance in a concentration of 6% should be diluted with water in a ratio of 1:10. It is necessary to place tomato seeds in the resulting liquid for 3 days.
Biologicals
Specialized agronomic stores offer a range of products for disinfecting tomato seeds. Among them there are chemicals that are undesirable to use, since they are implanted into the planting material and are subsequently partially contained in vegetables. An alternative to such "harmful" substances are biological products, which are absolutely harmless to humans and at the same time effective in the fight against the causative agents of most diseases.
Fitosporin
The substance is a microbiological preparation that can be used to disinfect tomato seeds. Fitosporin can be used at various ambient temperatures, for example, during seed hardening. The drug is not toxic, it can be used in an apartment.
Fitosporin is produced in the form of a paste, powder, liquid. For disinfection of tomato grains, depending on the form of the preparation, the following instructions should be followed:
- half a teaspoon of powder must be diluted in 100 g of water. In the resulting solution, the seeds are soaked for 2 hours immediately before planting;
- the paste contains an increased concentration of substances, therefore it is used in the ratio of 2 drops to half a glass of water. Seed soaking time 2 hours;
- liquid phytosporin is offered to the consumer in ready-made and concentrated form. The concentrated substance is diluted in a ratio of 10 drops per glass of water. It is not necessary to dilute the finished solution.
This harmless biological product can be used at different stages of plant growth, including in the process of flowering and fruit formation. Protection extends not only to the aboveground green part of the plant, but also to its root system.
Baikal EM
This drug contains a lot of beneficial bacteria and microelements that "survive" pathogenic pests. Baikal EM contains lactic acid, nitrogen-fixing, photosynthetic bacteria and yeast. Such a complex allows you to disinfect tomato seeds and saturate them with nutrients for the subsequent successful growth and fruiting of tomatoes.
"Baikal EM" is a highly concentrated liquid that must be diluted 2 hours before use in water in a ratio of 1: 1000. So, in a liter jar of water, add 3 ml of the substance. To activate the reproduction of bacteria, it is recommended to add a teaspoon of sugar, molasses or honey to the solution. Tomato seeds can be soaked in the solution for germination. Such a measure will remove the larvae of pests from the surface of the seeds and saturate the tomato grains with nutrients. "Baikal EM" can be used to protect tomatoes from pests at all stages of the growing season.
Experts in the vegetable growing industry recommend disinfecting the seeds of any vegetable crops before germination or sowing in the ground. This allows you to prevent the negative impact of pests at the earliest stage of cultivation. The choice of disinfection method always depends solely on the preferences of the farmer. A description of some of the methods for disinfecting tomato seeds is shown in the video:
Bubbling
Sparging is acceptable for those farmers who have an aquarium at home. The method is based on many hours of movement of the seed in an oxygenated water environment. So, to carry out bubbling, a high container (glass, jar) should be filled with water by a third. It is necessary to place tomato seeds and a tube connected to an aquarium compressor in it. A regular supply of oxygen will make the seeds constantly move, harmful microorganisms are naturally and mechanically removed from the surface of the grains, the planting material is saturated with moisture and oxygen, which will have a beneficial effect on the germination and viability of tomatoes. Sparging should be carried out for 15-20 hours, after which the tomato seeds can be used for further germination or sowing directly into the ground.
An example of how to properly bubble up tomato seeds is shown in the video:
Fortification with microelements
To get a good harvest of tomatoes, it is worth taking care not only of the rich microelement composition of the soil in which the crop will grow, but also of the saturation of the tomato seeds themselves with these very useful substances. So, in the process of pre-sowing preparation, you can soak tomato grains in a nutrient solution. For this, you can use, for example, wood ash. One teaspoon of this "ingredient" must be dissolved in a glass of water and insisted for 24 hours. Tomato seeds are immersed in the resulting mixture in a gauze bag for 5 hours. After this procedure, the tomato grains should be washed and then used for germination or dried for storage.
To enrich seeds with micronutrients, you can also use nitrophoska or nitroammophos... These substances are diluted in a ratio of 1 teaspoon to 1 liter of water. It is necessary to maintain tomato seeds in the resulting solution for 12 hours, after which they are washed and immersed in a humid environment until complete germination. Optimum temperature for the appearance of tomato sprouts + 24- + 250C. Under these conditions, tomato grains germinate in 3-4 days.
In addition to the above folk methods for enriching tomato grains with nutrients, you can use ready-made trace element compositions, for example, "Zircon", "Epin-Extra" and some others. Also, a growth stimulant and a means of disinfecting tomato seeds is undiluted aloe juice, in which you can soak tomato seeds for germination.
Conclusion
The work of a vegetable grower is quite difficult and painstaking, especially when it comes to growing tomatoes. Even at the pre-sowing stage, it is necessary to take care of the health of the seeds, because it is high-quality planting material that is the key to a good, abundant tomato harvest. With the help of a number of measures described in the article, you can select the most powerful tomato grains, thoroughly disinfect them and nourish them with useful microelements that will allow the plants to grow together, actively develop and bear fruit. Heat treatment allows to prepare future tomatoes for climatic cataclysms: heat, drought, frost. In short, tomatoes, the seeds of which have undergone a full range of preparation, are practically invulnerable and are guaranteed to provide the farmer with a good harvest of delicious tomatoes.
